I’m a Slav 4 U
Trove Thursday joins with those who prayed for opera to reopen worldwide for two broadcasts—more than fifty years apart–of Janacek’s stunning Glagolitic Mass, one conducted by Robert Shaw featuring Martina Arroyo, the other with Asmik Grigorian (pictured) led by rising American Karina Canellakis.
On Tuesday Grigorian will co-star with Karita Mattila at London’s Royal Opera in Claus Guth’s much anticipated new Jenufa. The sopranos were in rehearsals in March 2020 when the pandemic forced opera houses worldwide to close. That Covent Garden was able to reunite its intense leading ladies so swiftly (albeit with different tenors) is remarkable, and all Janacek fans will be grateful that the production will be filmed.
Today’s Cleveland Orchestra’s 1965 performance was likely a rare Arroyo-Janacek encounter. My only live Glagolitic to date occurred twenty years after the Shaw concert at the opposite corner of Ohio when James Conlon conducted it at the Cincinnati May Festival with Lorna Haywood as the soprano soloist.
My first live Janacek of any kind also occurred at the May Festival; in 1982 Klaus Tennstedt made his debut (and only appearance there) with an electric Sinfonietta followed by a roof-raising Carmina Burana.
I’d finally heard a Janacek opera in 1988 when Opera Orchestra of New York presented Jenufa with Gabriela Benackova and Leonie Rysanek! The ovation after their second act remains the most fervent I’ve ever been a part of!
Janacek: Mša glagolskaja
Severance Hall
4 November 1965
Broadcast
Martina Arroyo
Grace Reginald
Jerold Siena
David Ford
David Gooding, organ
Cleveland Orchestra Chorus
Cleveland Orchestra
Conductor: Robert Shaw
Janacek: Mša glagolskaja
Royal Albert Hall, London
19 July 2019
Broadcast
Asmik Grigorian
Jennifer Johnston
Ladislav Elgr
Jan Martiník
Peter Holder, organ
BBC Singers
BBC Symphony Chorus & Orchestra
Conductor: Karina Canellakis
Both versions of the Glagolitic Mass can be downloaded by clicking on the icon of a square with an arrow pointing downward on the audio player above and the resulting mp3 file will appear in your download directory
In addition, more than 400 other podcast tracks are always available from Apple Podcasts for free, or via any RSS reader.
The archive that lists all Trove Thursday offerings in alphabetical order by composer has just been completely updated.
Christopher Corwin
Christopher Corwin began writing for parterre box in 2011 under the pen name “DeCaffarrelli.” His work has also appeared in , The New York Times, Musical America, The Observer, San Francisco Classical Voice and BAMNotes. Like many, he came to opera via the Saturday Met Opera broadcasts which he began listening to at age 11. His particular enthusiasm is 17th and 18th century opera. Since 2015 he has curated the weekly podcast Trove Thursday on parterre box presenting live recordings.
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Topics: trove thursday
